Toward dynamic virtualized network services in telecom operator networks

Abstract

a b s t r a c t NFV and SDN are nowadays seen as a solid opportunity by telecom operators to reduce costs while at the same time providing new and better services. Recently, the Unify project proposed a multi-layered architecture that, leveraging different levels of abstraction, can orchestrate and deploy generic network services on the physical infrastructure of the telecom operator. In this paper, we exploit such an architecture to deliver end-to-end generic services in presence of multiple concurring players (e.g. network operator, end-users), leveraging a new simple data model. Particularly, we propose a description-based approach allowing to deploy agile, implementation-independent and high-level network services over a distributed set of resources. The resulting data model can abstract generic services, including both middleboxbased (e.g., firewalls, NATs, etc.) and traditional LAN-based ones (e.g., a BitTorrent client). Finally, two distinct prototypes, originated by different design principles, are implemented in order to validate our proposal with the aim of demonstrating the adaptability of our approach to different contexts.

Introducing Development Features for Virtualized Network Services

“…Details on the implementation can be found in [12]. A local emulation environment [10] is used to audit the scaling algorithm under test-traffic. By monitoring the throughput rate and packet loss of the elastic router, the scaling procedure can be validated.…”

“…Distinct open-source tools implement a specific part of the envisioned SDK environment, such as monitor data analysis [12,13]. Adapters for light-weight or specialized environments [8][9][10] can deploy chained virtual machines or containers for testing or emulate the execution of service control functions on large scale data center topologies. A federated testbed uniting different technologies and administrators, is described in [14].…”

Siren: A platform for deploying virtual network services in the cloud to Fog continuum

“…Siren is not in direct competition with these other MANOs; Further impacting NFV deployment to the Fog is that many current attempts at making a NFV systems [13], [12] run a single network function in its own virtual machine, this is done to simplify orchestration and to make sure that each VNF is isolated. However, this is wasteful; depending on the VNF in use, a significant amount of the compute resource is consumed by the host operating system rather than the VNF.…”

A Unifying Orchestration Operating Platform for 5G

“…The Universal Node (UN) [20] orchestrator can be considered as a "data center in a box", and it handles the orchestration of compute and network resources within a single physical node, such as a standalone server or a resource-constrained Customer Premises Equipment. The UN supports multiple types of NFs that can be mixed together when creating a service chain, such as VMs, Docker, DPDK processes, and Native Network Functions (NNF) [21].…”